Tall Fescue Desirable?

[oze]

When we bought this house 2 years ago (during the summer of the Drought of 2012), my lawn was a mess. About the only green in my back yard were a few broadleaf weeds and some 6-10 foot patches of what I came to find out was tall fescue. After 2 years of fits and starts, including spending $2 grand on addressing my flooding issue, the yard is shaping up. I seeded with a "Midwest mix" of Bluegrasss, fine fescues and perennial rye, but those tall fescue patches looked hideous. It took a lot of time, effort and a bit of $$ to get rid of the tall fescue, and, to my horror, now I am seeing something called "turf-type tall fescue" seeds being sold. For my own sanity, I have to assume that this is a much (*much*) more aesthetic cultivar than what I am used to, am I right? Assuming so, my question: how would it blend with my existing lawn if I was to buy TTTF or a TTTF/KBG mix? I have an area of about 900 square feet that is sparse, and I will be purchasing seed soon. Thanks for all your help!

[andy10917]

There is Tall Fescue and there is Turf-Type Tall Fescue ("TTTF"). The Tall Fescue is a weed or at best a forage-type grass sometimes sold as K-31. It's not desirable, unless you have low expectations for a lawn. TTTF is a different animal, and is beautiful.

It's getting awfully late to be considering seeding a good cultivar to establishment now in your location.

[oze]

There is Tall Fescue and there is Turf-Type Tall Fescue ("TTTF"). The Tall Fescue is a weed or at best a forage-type grass sometimes sold as K-31. It's not desirable, unless you have low expectations for a lawn. TTTF is a different animal, and is beautiful.

It's getting awfully late to be considering seeding a good cultivar to establishment now in your location.

Thanks for the reply--I might look into the TTTF/KBG mix. But I thought that now is the perfect time to seed in my zone. We were getting upper 80's up until last week, and should have at least 6 weeks of good weather left. Am I completely off-base?

[andy10917]

You're cutting it very close -- it takes 60 days for KBG to have a full root system. TTTF is less. There is no margin for a washout or bare spot reseeding.

Between August 15th and Labor Day is the primo time to get the seed down in northern states. KBG is 14-21 days to just germinate, and sometimes goes out to 30 days. Look at the majority of Renovations in the forum - they are 20-30 days old now. Another guide is 8 weeks to average first frost date. For Ft Wayne, that is October 13th for first frost.